Gov. Jon Corzine's five-day trade mission to Israel wrapped up yesterday with a flurry of tours, meetings and a test-drive so quick he never left the parking lot. The final day's hectic schedule only continued the pace of a trip that had the governor rushing from the holy sites of Jerusalem to the edge of the Gaza border to the buzzing hub of Tel Aviv.

"We weren't coming here on vacation," Corzine said. "You can have these kinds of experiences most anyplace if you work at it. It certainly creates a stir here."

Now, the key will be translating the momentum into money.

Shortly before the trade mission, a New Jersey Business & Industry Association survey showed companies give low marks to the state's business climate, and Corzine critics doubted his Israel visit would provide a boost. Soon after he arrived, the drugmaker Hoffmann-La Roche announced it was changing its name and moving its headquarters to California, dealing a blow to New Jersey's reputation as the world's "medicine chest."

Corzine said the Israelis were very interested in New Jersey.

"I didn't hear anybody tell me that they thought New Jersey was a bad place to do business. I actually heard the opposite," Corzine said. "So we need to capture the opportunity, and that I have urgency about."

Some of the follow-up will start immediately, particularly on "four or five" projects Corzine said he takes "a personal interest in" and that require quick decisions.

Others, like green technology initiatives, will be delegated to the Department of Environmental Protection. And the state needs to "seriously look" at hiring a business representative to be based in Israel permanently, Corzine said.

That idea arose after several groups who met with the governor asked why New Jersey, unlike other states, does not have a trade office here as a point of contact.

Alternative energies and biotechnology received top billing during the trade mission.

Corzine tried out one green experiment for himself yesterday when he drove a prototype electric car outside his hotel in Tel Aviv. Making a point of buckling his seat belt he wasn't wearing one during the car crash that prompted him to postpone the Israel visit last year the governor accelerated down the pavement and pronounced the technology "pretty amazing."

The car's developer, Better Place Project CEO Shai Agassi, said 50 of the lithium-ion battery vehicles will be introduced in the Israeli market this year, and mass production could begin by 2011. Corzine called it an "idea that's going to take sheer will" to gain traction in the United States.

The theme of weaning American drivers off oil surfaced during a tour of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. Igor Lubomirsky, a professor devising a cleaner fuel, warned his New Jersey visitors that if U.S. gas prices ever climb to $11 a gallon, the cultural ripple effects will wreak havoc.

"It will become economically unviable to drive your car," Lubomirsky said. "You will start abandoning suburbs, trying to congest back to the cities."

Corzine said it was clear "the next sea change of broad-based business development" will be in the green technology sector, and New Jersey needs to jump in.

He said his trip's success can be measured over time. There are now 72 Israeli companies with operations in New Jersey. "Take a look in two years and maybe we have 90 companies, 100 jobs next to that and then you've done something," Corzine said.

While the official mission concluded yesterday, Corzine will spend another two days in Israel with girlfriend Sharon Elghanayan before returning Saturday.

The governor, a multimillionaire, paid for his own trip expenses and Elghanayan's. Chief of staff Bradley Abelow covered his own costs, and the state paid for Corzine's trooper security detail and two staffers.

Claire Heininger may be reached at cheininger@starledger.com or (609) 989-0273.